Last weekend, I joined a light media drive in a couple of JAC crossovers (JS6 and JS8 Pro) to Pampanga and back. As you know, the Chinese brand is now under the Astara umbrella and hence joins GAC, Peugeot and JMC in the stable.

As I’m not particularly fond of half-day test drives—and also because my fragile physique still won’t allow me to fully enjoy these things—I’m going to ask my more able-bodied teammates to do the technical shakedown of the above-mentioned vehicles. Meanwhile, let me digress from those crossovers to talk about another car that JAC is poised to formally launch on September 26 (barring a calamity or a shimenet incident that will force the distributor to change the date).

The car is the cute-looking Ytterby electric vehicle. It was previewed by Astara earlier this year at the Manila International Auto Show, and is expected to squarely fight the BYD Dolphin.

The Ytterby, like the Dolphin, is a subcompact hatchback, measuring slightly smaller than its competitor at 4,025mm long, 1,770mm wide and 1,560mm high. It will come in two variants: the 405 Air and the 505 Lux. If you’re wondering what the numerical names stand for, those are the ranges in kilometers.

An executive from JAC shared the prices of the car with me:

• Ytterby Pro 505 – P1,320,000
• Ytterby Air 405 – P1,195,000

Again, I cannot guarantee these figures 100%. I’ve witnessed some car brands altering the prices on launch date. Maybe to create more noise? Who really knows?

If you’re interested in this car, below is its spec sheet.